The NCIS Experience
by Paperclip-Assassin
Summary: Birthday-fic for one of my best friends. Two teenagers want to just enjoy a trip to Washington when they witness a murder and get pulled into the investigation. - A story about Team Gibbs from an outsider's point of view. Tiva-Romance/Friendship/Humor. Finally completed.
1. Chaos

**This is a brithday-fic for my dear friend Lena (dcXxXcd)! I don't own her, I don't own NCIS, I don't own a mammoth... :D**

**Dear Lena,**

**I've been thinking about what to give you for your birthday for months. Then I decided to just sit down and plan a trip to Washington...at least in the way of your own personal fanfiction.**  
**I just wanted to give you something special, because you are special. I hope you'll like it. **

**Now fasten your seatbelt and enjoy the ride!**

**Love,**  
**MiRii :)**

* * *

**The NCIS Experience**

**Chapter I**

"OMG, I can't believe this…can you believe this? Because I cannot believe this!" I was bobbing up and down on the uncomfortable airplane seat as I stared out the window where the U.S. coastline had just appeared. It wasn't my first time in the country but I got overly excited every time. Next to me my friend Lena tried to get a good look down too, but due to my jumping she wasn't able to. She pushed me back down onto my seat and poked me in the side. "Owww!" I complained loudly, rubbing the sore spot.

"Stop blocking the view! I want to see this too, it's my first time to the States if you remember," she said, crossing her arms over her chest and giving me an accusing glare.

"But I've been here before, you see. It's like the States and I have history together." I gave her a sweet smile but she just rolled her eyes and climbed into my lap, forcing me to switch seats with her in order to sit comfortably. The steward was already giving us weird looks, but I ignored him. He hadn't been nice throughout the flight. Instead I just stared at my friend in disbelief. She was looking out the window with wondering eyes and a smile on her lips. After a while she turned to look at me with a serene expression. "Well, looks like the states cheated on you."

We looked at each other for a moment before starting to laugh. This was going to be the best holiday any 15-year-old would ever have.

**- ... -**

Lena followed me after we got off the plane, believing that I actually knew where I was going. I just followed a German couple in the hope that they were heading into the right direction. Travelling with my mom was a lot less stressful.  
We got through to the luggage claim without any problems, though. But of course our suitcases had to be the last ones to be unloaded, so we didn't actually save any time.

Finally we walked out of the airport, inhaling deeply and smiling like idiots. We were actually in Washington DC, capital of the Unites States of America. Simultaneously we turned to face each other and high-fived.

"I cannot believe this!" I repeated.

"Yeah, you mentioned that before…" Lena replied sarcastically and started looking for the promised pick-up of our company. She was always the one being rational and that was good because otherwise I would just be jumping around and staring at everything and anyone. I was obsessed with America.

Just then a white van stopped in front of us and a middle-aged woman got out. She looked around for a little while before approaching us.

"Excuse me…?" she started with a heavy German accent. "Are you the two Austrian girls?"  
We nodded and smiled, even though it was weird that she even bothered speaking English. "Okay, welcome to Washington. Did you have a good flight?"

Again I nodded. "Yup. No problems."  
The woman scribbled something down on the notepad in her hands and smiled at us. We had won a trip to the US when we attended a competition at our school and everything was paid for by a German language assistance company that encouraged students aged 11 to 18 to attend language seminars and so on. A piece of cake for two English geniuses like Lena and I, not that I wanted to brag or anything.  
With the permission of our parents nothing stood between us and the trip and as another positive side-effect we missed the last two weeks of school.

"I need you two to put this on," the woman handed us a recording device attached to some sort of belt, "this way we can check up on you every once in a while."

I cocked my head to the side and narrowed my eyes. "So you're going to spy on us for two weeks? Seriously?" Lena mirrored my glare, clearly making the woman uncomfortable. She laughed and scratched the back of her head.

"No…no, we can't just listen to your conversation, it is a simple voice recorder," her features hardened and she glared viciously back at us," So you better put that on and shut up, is that clear?" I gulped and nodded once while Lena stared at me in horror. The woman smiled sweetly. "I knew we would understand each other. Enjoy your trip." With that she left, leaving us standing there at the airport, without any idea how we should get to our hotel. I stuffed the voice recorder in my backpack.

Hesitantly I turned to face my friend. "That went well." She slapped my shoulder.

"Are you nuts? We should call the police or call our parents or…or...I DON'T KNOW BUT WE SHOULD DO SOMETHING!" In her panic she'd started to switch back into German. I covered her moth with my hand.

"Shhh! Calling that much attention to ourselves won't help us," I told her desperately, close to freaking out myself. Lena nodded and sighed before she lifted my hand off her mouth. I let my eyes wander around until I spotted a group of young men…pretty good-looking young men. I nudged Lena in the side and nodded in their direction. She turned her head and sighed.

"How can you think of boys in a situation like this?" she asked and dropped to her knees. I sat down beside her and put an arm around her shoulder.

"You still got a lot to learn, young one. That over there? They're not boys. Those are men." I waggled my eyebrows and grinned. For a second she looked like she wanted to hit me real hard, but then she just laughed and bumped her shoulder against mine.

"You're so stupid sometimes, it hurts."

"That's why you love me," I said with a smile, but turned serious after a second. "We're going to have fun beside this weirdo company woman threatening us. I promise" She nodded, not that convinced.

"And let me guess, until then we're trying to get these 'men' over there to show us around. Because what guy wouldn't want to play pedophile just once in his life, right?" Her voice was laced with sarcasm.

"Ever heard of 'dirty shool girls'?" I asked with my best duh expression. Before she could say anything matching her disgusted expression there was a loud noise followed by another one. In a reflex I threw myself to the ground, pulling Lena with me. "Where those gun-shots?" I asked in a shaky whisper, slipping into German.

When we dared to look up again we saw the group of men rapidly talking to one of their friends, who lay on the ground with a hand clutched to his side while a red puddle began to form underneath him. I was shocked, but I looked around nonetheless, feeling that someone was watching me. And really, there was a suspicious-looking guy, wearing a hoodie and sunglasses. But then again,_ I_ was wearing a hoodie too and _I_ definitely wasn't a threat. It might have been the shock of the situation, but I thought I saw him grin. Before I could take my thoughts any further chaos broke out and suddenly there were people _everywhere_. Screaming, crying, yelling and crowding around the shot guy. I had to pull myself together and try to find Lena, who had disappeared in the sea of unfamiliar faces.  
The last thing I remembered was being pushed against a wall. Hard.

**- ... -**

When I woke up I was still at the airport exit and Lena was sitting next to me with a tired expression. All around us were people taking photos or taking care of injured people…or that's what I thought, until I realized that there wasn't even an ambulance. Instead I saw an elderly man sipping up a black plastic bag or something like that and a younger man that just stood there next to him and looked kind of out of place.

"Your friend finally woke up," a soft voice said from behind me and I quickly turned around. The movement made my head spin. The voice belonged to an exotic-looking woman. She was really pretty with her hair pulled back into a pony tail and dark eyes. Lena nodded.

"Yeah. Looks like it."

"My name is Ziva David. I work with NCIS," the woman introduced herself. "Your friend says your name is Miri…she would not tell us anything else." I shot a thankful expression in Lena's direction, but she seemed really shaken and so I took her hand to comfort her.

I gave Ziva my personal details like date of birth, full name and nationality while she wrote everything down on a note pad. When she asked me why we were there I thought about telling her about the weirdo-woman for a second, but then I decided not to and just told her that we didn't know where our hotel was. She wrote that down too and turned to leave, but I didn't want her to go and so I asked the first question that came to my mind in order to cause a distraction.

"What's NCIS?"

"It stands for Naval Criminal Investigative Service," explained Ziva. "The man that was shot was with a group of Marines."

I nodded slowly. So the woman was a cop. Cool. My face must've lit up, because Lena gave me a questioning look. I just shrugged and started to whisper an explanation.

"Hey! Hey, Ziva!"  
This was a new voice and it belonged to a man. I looked up from my hushed conversation with Lena to see a guy approaching us. He was pretty handsome. I started untangling my hair with my fingers in order to look…well not like I'd just been knocked unconscious. Good-looking guy smiled at us and I grinned right back, practically _feeling_ Lena's eye-roll.

"He's like what? Forty?" she hissed under her breath and I turned to her. Of course I wasn't interested in him, but a little joke never hurt anyone, did it? I knew she knew that and was just playing along.

"Boss wants us to bring 'em in. They were closest to the scene…well apart from P.O. Sanders and his buddies," said good-looking-guy, nodding into our direction.

"Okay, Tony. This means that you will be driving with Ducky, yes?" Ziva said with a mischievous smile. Whatever joke it was that they had going on, I didn't get it.

Good-looking guy chuckled sarcastically and shook his head. "Oh no, Probette. I am Senior Field Agent, I'll drive those young ladies," he winked at us, "to the Navy Yard personally. We wouldn't want them to end up in the Potomac because of your mad ninja driving style, would we?"

Ziva pretended to give an annoyed eye-roll, but it was clear that she wasn't actually upset. "Whatever you say. But at least take McGee with you, last time he had to take the bus back," she said with a small smile before she left in the direction of the truck where the old man and his assistant had put what I assumed was the body of the guy who'd been shot. I shuddered as I realized that someone had _died_ practically right in front of me.

"Miri? You coming?" asked Lena tiredly and I realized that she was leaving with good-looking guy.

**- ... -**

We sat in a dark Sedan, Lena and I in the back seat while _Very Special_ _Agent DiNozzo_, as he had introduced himself, sat in the driver's seat. We were waiting for his colleague, Agent McGoo.

"So," Agent DiNozzo started awkwardly, "You guys are from Austria?"

"Yeah," said Lena absentmindedly.

"Say a word about _The Sound of Music _and I will kill you," I said in a threatening tone. Agent DiNozzo chuckled.

"I promise I won't. It's probably the only movie that had me wanting to cut off my ears and put duct tape over my eyes."

Lena nudged me in the side. "I'm beginning to really like this DiNozzo guy," she whispered in German, probably in the hope that he wouldn't understand. I smiled at her. It looked like she was becoming more relaxed again. We both chuckled.

"Hey! No German followed by giggles, I feel like I'm missing all the fun," Agent DiNozzo complained jokingly. He was obviously trying to lift the mood. Which wasn't really necessary, as we both already felt better. "Oh, Agent David loves _The Sound of Music_, by the way. Just so you know," he warned us with a stern look through the rear mirror.

Lena's eyebrows shot up and she grinned knowingly. "What is it with you and Ziva?" she asked nonchalantly, putting on an innocent expression when he half-turned in his seat to look at her.

"Excuse me?" he asked, his voice raised an octave. "I don't know how things are in Austria, but here you don't go around asking Federal agents about their co-workers."

We both knew that he wasn't seriously mad or felt disrespected. He was just being…entertaining. I decided to push the matter further.

"So you're telling me that there is nothing going on between the two of you?" I asked, pretending to be surprised.

Agent DiNozzo laughed uncomfortably and looked out the window. "_C'mon McLate, where are you?"_ he whispered to himself and I thought he was referring to the Agent we were waiting for.

"Are we getting an answer or not?" Lena asked.

"We are good friends. I have her back, she has mine…but sometimes it's complicated...And I don't know why I'm even telling you this!" This conversation was making him uncomfortable. I smiled. There _so_ was something between them.

Lena was going to say something more, but just at that moment the passenger door opened and a young man got in. He looked pretty geeky, even though I didn't know why.

"Ladies, may I introduce you to Special Agent McGoo aka Probie aka Elf Lord-"

"Aka this is not funny, Tony," the younger agent interrupted and turned to face us. He inhaled as if he was going to say something, but then hesitated and took a look at his iPhone. "_Mein N-Name ist Tim McGee. Wie geht es...Ihnen?_" he stuttered.

„Shut it, McLederhosen, they speak English better than you do," teased Agent DiNozzo. Lena was the first to start laughing then and I joined in when I saw Agent McGee's facial expression.

"Oh," he whispered, embarrassed.

"Hi, my name's Lena," said Lena and smiled kindly. Agent McGee smiled back.

"And I'm Miri," I said, waving enthusiastically.

Agent McGee turned back to look at his colleague when the car started moving. "Abby's gonna love them," he said with a chuckle.

I didn't know who that Abby-person was, but I was definitely looking forward to meeting more people. Maybe these were going to be awesome holidays after all.

* * *

**Next chapter: Introductions**

_**The Austrians meet the world's happiest Goth, an old guy with a coffee addiction and an even older guy who talks to dead people...**_

**_And what the hell does Tiva stand for?  
_**


	2. Introductions

**I never thought I'd get back to this story this soon. **  
**But I did. And I even managed to be more or less satisfied with the outcome of this chapter (mpstly because I just love Abby so much, I guess)**

**So, here's the second chapter...still dedicated to the lovely Lena, of course :) I miss you, gurl!**

**Disclaimer: _Jesus, does it ever stop? I. Own. Nothing. (Except the character bearing my name and part of my personality.)_**

* * *

**Chapter II  
**

We drove for a while until we arrived at a group of buildings surrounded by parks which were full of people going about their business. I was excited and by the look on Lena's face, so was she. Agent DiNozzo stopped the car near one of the buildings where another man was standing with a cup of coffee in his hands. He looked weirdly out of place, not like an agent at all, but friendly and as soon as we got out of the car he straightened up and seemed to await an order.

"Hey, Dorneget," Agent DiNozzo called out "park the car, would ya? Gibbs is already waiting for us..." with that he tossed the car keys towards the other agent, who caught them but dropped them again. Lena and I giggled and Agent McGee tried to suppress a grin, but failed. DiNozzo nodded towards the building and lead the way inside.

"You could've been a bit nicer to him, you know..." Lena stated while McGee had gone to get some 'visitor passes' for us. DiNozzo turned to her and grinned a bright grin.

"True. But he's a Probie. Probies need to do Probie-stuff."

"Like parking your car when you're just too lazy to do it yourself?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Exactly," he said, "Besides, Gibbs really doesn't like to wait, especially when it comes to solving a murder, so my order seems justified."  
Before Lena and I could argue further, McGee returned with two shiny NCIS visitors passes and handed them to us. We clipped them on our shirts and continued our journey to the mysterious place called the 'bullpen'.  
As we stepped out of an elevator we found ourselves in an office area. There were lots of desks with people working on computers or talking on the phone. If I hadn't known better I would've thought we were in a regular law firm, not a US Federal agency. DiNozzo turned towards the first desk behind a partition and dropped his bag on it.

"I come bearing Austrians," he said cheerfully and sat down atop of the desk. As it turned out it was Ziva's desk and she didn't like people, especially DiNozzo, sitting on it. She dug her nails into his hand - which had been placed far too close to her own, considering their 'merely coworkers' relationship, anyway - causing him to yelp and jump off her desk. She smiled with satisfaction as he glared at her.

"Cute," Lena commented, just for me to hear. I smiled. They actually were cute. For adults, at least.

"Did you get here alright?" Ziva asked, turning her attention from DiNozzo to us. We nodded in unison and I smiled.

"Of course they did. You didn't drive," came the sarcastic remark from the desk opposite Ziva's where DiNozzo was now sitting, feet on his desk. She turned back to him and gave him a dark glare, which probably would've frightened me, had I not known Ziva as a very kind person. But then again...I didn't actually know her. I had merely talked to her for a short time at the airport, nothing more. I turned my attention away from the quarreling couple and let my eyes search the office area for a place to sit down. There was only one available chair and as McGee was sitting at his down desk, I guessed that it must belong to Agent Gibbs. And I really didn't want to get into any kind of trouble for sitting in the chair of this probably really strict Gibbs person, so I decided to just sit on the ground next to Ziva's desk. Of course I would've preferred that of Agent DiNozzo, but in the end Ziva felt like the wiser choice. Lena seemed to guess my intention and followed my example of sitting down before I even said a word to her.

**- ... -**

I must have fallen asleep; because the next thing I know is that I was being nudged in the side by Lena, who looked like she'd been sleeping as well.  
"What is it?" I asked in German, not realizing where I was immediately. But then everything came back quickly and I found myself disgustedly staring at the orange walls and partitions. It wasn't a nice color to wake up to as it reminded me of our garbage disposal trucks back home. How come I hadn't noticed that earlier?

"I think Agent Gibbs is coming, I heard someone call his name upstairs," Lena explained in a whisper and we both turned our heads to look up, waiting for whoever was to come down.

At first a dark-skinned man appeared. "The Director," as Ziva explained with a nod in his direction. Next was an older guy with grayish-white hair, almost silvery, wearing a suit - not as fashionably or expensive-looking as DiNozzo's - and carrying a coffee cup. He said something to the Director and then descended the stairs to the bullpen area. His eyes had something that reminded me of a bird of prey, an eagle or falcon, as they seemed much focused and the impression was intensified by the steely glare he sent towards DiNozzo even before he said anything.

"Fill me in, DiNozzo," he barked harshly before taking a sip of his coffee. He then threw the probably empty styrofoam cup in the trashcan next to his desk and I wondered at the quantity of his coffee intake, because it had been a venti-sized cup.

DiNozzo jumped up from his desk and started to tell their boss everything about the crime that we had unfortunately witnessed, from time of death to murder weapon and all that other stuff that you see on CSI. Gibbs listened more or less patiently, only telling his agent to "focus" once when he quoted some movie that he thought was a 'classic', until his gaze fell on us and he raised his eyebrows in surprise. He hadn't noticed us before as we had been sitting quietly and just curiously listened to the conversation.

"Would you like to explain _that_ to me, DiNozzo?" said Gibbs, nodding in our direction. "A family I should know about?"  
I giggled involuntarily at DiNozzo's expression, but Lena quickly shushed me by covering up my mouth. Eventually McGee explained our presence, coming to his colleague's rescue. It made me wonder if the whole 'Probie' thing wasn't just an act, because somehow the two of them made the impression of secretly being pretty good friends. I made a mental note to ask Ziva about that later. For the moment I was occupied by trying to make a good impression on Agent Gibbs, but just as I wanted to introduce us, Lena jumped up in a swift motion and did the job for me. I just gave a shy wave from my sitting position. Suddenly Gibbs' face changed completely and he smiled at us in a way that made wrinkles form around his eyes and made him look like a really friendly grandfather.

"Austria, huh?" he said.

"Yeah. Don't mention the war," I joked weakly, but he chuckled nonetheless. Then he turned and raised an eyebrow. "You comfortable, DiNozzo?"

The agent clearly was thrown off by that question and tilted his head questioningly. Gibbs got up and slowly walked over to his agent's desk, leaning down threateningly, before raising his hand and slapping the back of DiNozzo's head. "Rule 8 - You don't let women sit on the ground when there's a chair you could give up."

DiNozzo looked perplexed and seemed to think for a second, before muttering "But I thought Rule 8 was-"

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs interrupted.

His agent flinched and jumped up. "Got it, boss. Offering seat now."

This whole exchange was so ridiculously funny in such a weird way that I, again, couldn't help but laugh. It earned me questioning looks from all four NCIS agents, but at least Lena seemed to get where my amusement came from. Meanwhile Agent DiNozzo had actually offered us his chair, and so had McGee, but we turned down the offer, telling them that it had been nice enough of them to let us stay in the bullpen instead of leaving us with some social worker in the second floor, they needn't give us their seats as well.

Before a full-blown discussion could break out, Ziva's cell phone rang and the conversation came to a sudden end. She didn't really say much, but from what she said, I could filter that she was talking to 'Abby', whom McGee had already mentioned in the car, and assuring her that she would "see what she could do". After hanging-up she turned to Gibbs.

"That was Abby. The test results on the fabric samples came back negative and she wants us to come down..." Ziva hesitated for a second, "All of us..."

Gibbs frowned and looked first at Lena and then at me. "Vance doesn't like witnesses walking around evidence..." Ziva nodded and got up, leaving for the elevator with an apologetic smile, DiNozzo proceeded to follow her, but was stopped by Gibbs' voice, "...but what he doesn't know won't hurt him, right?"

Lena and I grinned happily and I thought I could detect a faint smirk on Gibbs' face. "Well in that case...Follow me, Ladies," said DiNozzo with a wave towards the elevator.

**- ... -**

"The old man really seems to like you," he commented when the doors of the metal box closed and we started our descend.

"If Gibbs hears you calling him that, I am sure he will send you back to being an Agent Afloat," said Ziva, "But maybe this would be a good idea."

" 'Agent Afloat'?" Lena asked me in a whisper. I could only shrug and shake my head.

"You would miss me, Agent David," he countered, stretching her last name out in a way that obviously did not suit Ziva, "Don't even pretend that you wouldn't."

At this Ziva stepped closer to him, completely violating his personal space, as the elevator itself was already quite small, and looked up at him from under her lashes with a soft smile playing on her lips.  
"Oh, of course I would miss you, Tony," she breathed quite seductively, letting one of her hands wander up his chest. For a second they were completely lost in each other, or so it seemed, and I was sure that they were going to kiss, but then Ziva's hand twitched and she pinched DiNozzo teasingly, making him jump and yelp in surprise. "McGee does not make half as funny noises when being pinched," she added with a sweet smile.

"How do you know what noises McGee makes when he's being pinched?" DiNozzo asked incredulously after a few seconds, but Ziva just shrugged and before she could answer or say anything at all the elevator doors opened and she stepped out with him right behind her.  
Lena and I exchanged an all too knowing look. Those two definitely needed a nudge in the right direction.

Lena grabbed my hand and towed me around a corner. I could hear music playing loudly from the room we were heading at. The doors were standing wide open and I could see Ziva leaning casually against a white counter with several monitors on it. When we approached her, she turned.  
"I am sorry we lost you..."

"No big deal," smiled Lena politely while I started looking around the room, which was obviously a laboratory. And a quite cool one. There were beeping machines everywhere, blinking in all different colors. It's a shame I never liked science at school, because this stuff was awesome!  
But then my attention turned back to the music. I definitely knew the song that was playing.  
"Is that...'I Believe You' by _Celldweller_?" I wondered aloud.

"_Ohmygosh_, you _know_them?" came a very excited voice from behind me, causing me to turn around so quickly that it made my head spin. Behind me was a woman with raven black hair made into two pigtails and held back by a red skull hair band. I let my eyes wander from her hair to her face and found two bright eyes looking at me. I suddenly remembered that the woman had asked me a question.

"Uh, yeah...I...I have a couple of songs on my iPod," I stammered, "They're pretty cool.."

"You must be one of the Austrian girls then," she said and I was going to introduce myself and shake her hand, but she darted forward and enveloped me in a tight hug. I was taken aback, but hugged back in reflex. When she pulled back after a second she smiled even brighter. "I'm Abby!"

"Miri," I said, pointing to myself, not able to form a complete sentence. I noticed that not only Abby's hair band, but her whole outfit had a skull-print. It actually looked great. "I love your T-shirt," I said suddenly.

"Aww, thank you!" she almost squealed. "Wait...weren't there supposed to be two of you?"

Suddenly I remembered Lena. What kind of friend was I? I immediately turned in all directions in search for her brown hair, but I only found Ziva and DiNozzo talking mutedly in a corner of the lab.  
"Miri? Over here!" a familiar voice suddenly called out and I could finally detect Lena's sleek form from across the room. I made my way over there, followed by Abby, and came to a halt next to my friend. "Isn't that cool?" she asked, pointing to one of the machines, "It's a Mass-spectrometer. Y'know, the thing we talked about in science?"

I could only shake my head. I never listened to our teacher when there were other things to do. And I _always_ found other things to do.  
"You must be Lena!" Abby said excitedly and welcomed Lena with the same hug I had experienced earlier before introducing herself.

"Hey, don't crush the kid," DiNozzo said as he approached us. Abby let go of Lena and beamed at him.

"Timmy already told me that those two were entertaining, but he never mentioned that they knew my stuff!" Abby said somewhat accusingly.

"How should he have known Abby?" asked Ziva. "Anyway. Anything new?"

Abby shook her head. "Nope, sorry. Tell Gibbs I'm running all data-bases for the half-print you found, but it might take a while..."

"Sure. Thanks, Abby," said DiNozzo and motioned for us to follow him out again. Lena looked longingly at the mass-major-whatever thing and sighed while I bit my lip and looked pleadingly back at the Goth.

"Can't they stay?" Abby asked. "I'll watch them for you. It would be boring for them to sit around while you're doing research anyway, right?"

"Pretty please?" I asked, trying my puppy dog eyes on DiNozzo while Lena did her best to convince Ziva.

"Fine..." DiNozzo finally agreed, "Let's just hope Vance doesn't find out."

"Vance? What about Gibbs?" Ziva asked with raised eyebrows.

"You're kidding, right? Gibbs likes them better than me already!"

Ziva chuckled. "What a surprise. They are polite and quiet most of the time, unlike you," she said and turned to leave, waving goodbye to Abby and us.

DiNozzo followed her. "Hey, I can be quiet and polite!"

"Oh, really? Because I never witnessed you being either."  
The rest of the conversation between them was muffled as they disappeared around the corner again and the music was still on high volume.

I immediately turned to Abby when I was sure that they were already in the elevator.  
"What's going on between the two of them?" I blurted out without warning.

"Surely there must be something, right?" Lena added, "I mean _look_at them!"

Abby was silent for a moment before a wide grin spread on her face. "Only here for a couple of hours and you're already seeing it," she commented.

"A couple of hours? It was clear after a couple of _seconds_that they have something going on!" Lena exclaimed, wildly gesticulating.

"Are they or are they not secretly a couple?" I finally asked. Again Abby was quiet before she answered.

"No. No, they're not a couple," she sighed, "But they'd make a great one, wouldn't they?"

"Totally!" Lena and I frustratedly cried in unison.  
"So why aren't they together?" asked Lena.

And then Abby hesitantly led us into her office, bouncing on her high-plateau Gothic boots, and motioned for Lena and me to sit down on a mattress on the floor, before she told us the whole story of the team. Beginning with Tony's first 'partner' Kate, who had been killed by a guy named Ari, who was Ziva's brother, she told us about how Ziva had joined the team first to protect her brother and had then ended up killing him to gain Gibbs' trust. I couldn't believe that at first and judging by Lena's sharp intake of breath; she too had a different image of Ziva in her mind.  
Abby continued with how she hadn't liked Ziva in the beginning, but how Tony had been basically all over her. They had just 'totally clicked', as she described it, with loads of sexual tension between them, as could be well observed during a certain under cover op where no one had ever found out if they had or hadn't actually slept together.  
Then there came another shock in the story when Abby told us about Gibbs' first wife (followed by several more) and daughter. It was a really sad story and threw a completely different light on the gruff agent.  
Back then, after the team-leader's accident, the whole flirty Tony-Ziva relationship had changed to an actual friendship, and even more than that for Ziva, as the Goth hinted, before telling us about _Jeanne_.

"I hate Jeanne," I stated interrupting Abby's tale momentarily.

"But he really loved her..." Abby tried to explain.

"I don't care. Ziva was in love with him," I stubbornly crossed my arms over my chest, "And he, like, totally friend-zoned her."

"Can you shut up now?" Lena asked with an eye-roll. I pretended to lock my mouth and throw the key away, so Abby could continue.  
A few tears rolled down her cheeks when she told us about the former Director's death and how Vance had split up the team (at that point the whole Agent Afloat question was answered for us), showing again how close Tony and Ziva actually were. I couldn't help but smile when Abby told us how happy she had been when the whole team had got back together and she'd been sure that it was finally going to be the 'Time of Tiva'.

"Wait...'Tiva'?" asked Lena with a frown.

Abby chuckled. "It's a couple-name that I came up with, combining 'Tony' and 'Ziva'."

"Sweet," I said, but then stopped to think for a minute. " But you said they never actually got together, so something must have happened."

Abby's expression grew very grave as she answered with gritted teeth, "Michael Rivkin."  
I really wanted to punch something very hard when she explained that the whole thing had been like with Jeanne, only the other way around, then I found myself holding back tears when I heard about Tony going all the way to Somalia just to get revenge on the guy that supposedly took Ziva from him. I gripped Lena's hand in order to stay calm and not break down and cry over something that had happened three years ago to a group of people I only just met.  
And then I, again, found my violent part come up when Ziva still couldn't quite trust Tony, even after what he'd done for her, and all those feelings were being ignored, just like back in the beginning.

"This is a joke, right?" Lena huffed. The Goth shook her head in defeat. Lena laughed dryly. "It's like a soap opera."

"Exactly. You could make a TV-show out of it...I would absolutely watch it," I added.

Abby chuckled half-heartedly at that and finished her story with Ray Cruz, the murderous CIA Agent Ziva almost married and Wendy, the journalist Tony almost married.  
"Neither of them is dating now and they seem closer again," she concluded and I could only silently sit there on the mattress in her office and stare into empty space, trying to comprehend all this information.

"We _so_need to do something," Lena finally broke the silence, punching the floor with her fist while putting on the most determined expression I had seen her wearing since she had decided that she wanted to totally ace her math exam.

"Mhhh...I think I might have a plan," Abby mused with a frown.

"I'm in, whatever it is," I said, cheerfully jumping to my feet. Lena followed my example.

"Me too, what do you have in mind, Abby?"

The Goth grinned mysteriously and motioned for us to come closer. "I think we're going to make an awesome team, girls," she said, before solemnly adding, "But first, we're gonna need _Caf-Pow_. And lots of it."

* * *

**Oh, one thing, which I found really cute in a review: Thanks for actually explaining to me what 'TIVA' stands for, I appreciate the thought. **  
**But of course I _do_ know what it stands for. Tiva is my life-essence, it's what I live and breathe for! :D**  
**My question in the last chapter was actually just a little taste of this second one...just so you know that I know ;)**


	3. Theories

**Hey everyone... I actually managed to write something again :D**

**And I'm not going to annoy you with excuses or anything, it's just that school started and now I'm pretty busy living my life with very little time for NCIS. My apologies to Lena :)**

**Disclaimer: _I own a calender. 4 days to go until Season 10!_**

* * *

**Chapter III**

After about an hour of intense planning, we finally had a plan put together that we were all three satisfied with. We also had _CafPow_, instead of blood running through our veins. Turns out it's a reddish energy drink, much like _Red Bull_ – Abby looked like she wanted to rip my head off when I pointed that out – with lots of caffeine in it. I felt like I could run a marathon even though it was already getting dark outside. We definitely needed to get that stuff back home.

When Abby turned up her music I grabbed Lena's hand and spun her around in a wild circle and in her caffeine delirium she seemed to completely forget her utter distaste of dancing. We jumped around and I sang along, although it was just some gibberish as I didn't know the song, and we had a lot of fun. So much fun, in fact, that I almost completely forgot what had happened after our arrival in the States. It all became frighteningly real again when Special Agent Gibbs personally appeared in the doorway to Abby's lab. The Goth beamed at him and grabbed him by the arm, trying to animate him to dance as well. He merely rolled his eyes with a faint smile and went to turn off the music.

"Way to crash a party, Gibbs," Abby said and judging by the older man's shrug instead of the head slap that would've awaited DiNozzo, I guessed that she definitely held the favorite status on the team. It was a good thing we had her on our side.

"I need to talk to the girls, Abs," he said and she nodded and made her way into her office next door, giving us some privacy.

"I'm sorry, Agent Gibbs, it wasn't our intention to keep Abby from her work," I said, sure that that was the reason the team leader was down in the lab. He just smiled gently at us.

"First, call me Gibbs. Second: Never apologize, it's a sign-"

"Of weakness," Lena finished his sentence. When Gibbs raised an eyebrow, she grinned. "It's a line from an old Western I watched with my sister the other week."

Gibbs chuckled, "Do me a favor, kid, and don't mention that to DiNozzo. There would be no stopping him."

We, too, laughed at that statement, having already realized what a movie addict the agent was. But then I remembered that Gibbs came down for a reason. Before I could even take a breath, Lena was already talking. "What did you want to talk to us about?"

"We checked the company you two said sponsored your trip and the woman who was supposed to pick you up called in sick this morning. She never left for the airport."

"What? But who was that person threatening us?!" I exclaimed, complete shock evident in my voice. Gibbs tilted his head to the side and narrowed his eyes.

"You never told my agents that there was someone threatening you," he said sternly, "I need to know about everything. It might be connected to the shooting."

I sighed in defeat and told him about the strange encounter at the airport, also mentioning the recorder the woman had given to us and the weird fact that she had spoken English instead of German. Lena added the facts I had forgotten and within five minutes Gibbs actually knew everything we remembered.

"If you need to see the recorder, it's in my backpack, which is with Agent DiNozzo," I said.

"Do I have your permission to go through your things?" asked Gibbs politely and I nodded, because they had already checked my suitcase for weapons or whatever, meaning some guy went through my _underwear_. There wasn't anything that private in my backpack and I trusted Gibbs not to take anything else. He nodded his thanks and left the room. As soon as I was sure he was gone I turned to my friend and grinned knowingly.

"_What_?" she asked, trying hard not to grin herself.

"Nothing," I said and started pacing the room, taking a stuffed hippopotamus toy from the desk to take a closer look at it, before adding, "It's just that you were making fun of me for crushing on DiNozzo while you yourself do everything in your power to make _Gibbs_ like you. And he's like twenty years older than Tony."

She raised an eyebrow. "So, you're on a first name basis now?"

"_No_," I blushed furiously, "Don't change the subject!"

"For a man his age he is really handsome," she said crossing her arms over her chest.

"You have nothing in common." I pointed out with an eye-roll.

"He likes coffee."

"You _hate_ coffee."

"He… he has hair."

"So does our Biology teacher, do you like him as well?"

"Ew, no!"

"Ha, I won," I said triumphantly, but she wouldn't give up that easily.

"You suck."

"You're never going to marry Johnny Depp!"

"Vampires don't exist!"

We glared at each other when I couldn't come up with a good remark, not noticing Abby re-entering her lab. "Okay… that escalated quickly," she said with a chuckle and Lena and I burst out laughing, playfully punching each other in the shoulder. When we finally calmed down a bit I turned to Abby.

"How much did you hear?"

She smiled, "Enough."

"We were just joking," Lena said defensively.

"Sure you were," the Goth said with a wink and before we could argue any further Gibbs returned with Tony and Ziva right behind him. He dropped the recorder on Abby's nearest counter.

"Drugs," he explained grimly, "I need them tested straight away, Abby."  
Abby nodded and immediately switched to professional mode, removing the already opened back-lid of the recorder to reveal its inside packed with small packages containing white powdery stuff.

"Lena, Miri, you are now under our protective custody until this case is closed," Tony said as if it was some great achievement in a game show of which he was the host.  
I immediately looked at my friend in horror.

"You will stay at my place, if that is okay with you," Ziva said, taking a step forward and smiling kindly at us. I took a short look at Lena to make sure she was okay with it as well and accepted the agent's offer with a smile when my friend didn't seem to object.  
"We will leave in about thirty minutes," Ziva said, and after getting a weird look from Tony, added, "He will drive us," with a nod in his direction. He beamed first at us then at her and I had a hard time not to grin.

"Send 'em down to Ducky for a check-up first. Heard Miri was unconscious at the airport," Gibbs ordered. Tony nodded and so he got his phone out and left the lab.

Ziva motioned for us to follow her, but suddenly Abby spoke up. "I'll walk them down in a minute, okay? I… umm, need their help." All of us turned to look at her; not knowing what exactly two teenage girls like us could help a forensic specialist with. When she noticed that we clearly didn't understand, she gave us another hint, "You know, with that thing we talked about earlier?" At the word 'thing' her eyes darted to Ziva and Tony for the briefest of seconds and I saw a grin spreading across Lena's face when she seemed to get Abby's hint the same moment I did.

"Oh, right! _That_ thing," she said, "Of course we'll help you, won't we, Miri?"

"Uh, sure. We told you we would help, Abby. That's what we're gonna do."

"Awesome," the Goth clapped her hands happily before moving to shoo her teammates out of her lab. Ziva sent us a skeptical look before she and Tony disappeared behind the closing door. As soon as they were gone Abby turned and let out a deep breath. "Forget our plan," she said.

"_What_… why?" I cried.

"Because I got a better one," she said and disappeared into her office just to return a minute later with a cell phone in her hand. Lena raised an eyebrow at the Goth but Abby merely smiled and went to explain, handing the phone to Lena, "This is my emergency phone, in case something happens to mine. It has all numbers of the team and my own number, as well as the pizza and Chinese food delivery service saved. Take it with you."

"Thanks," Lena said after hesitating for a moment, "But what are we going to do with it?"

Abby's grin widened, "Tony won't leave Ziva alone with you guys, I'm sure of that. It's, like, the perfect opportunity to push them into the right direction, don't you think?"

I thought that over a couple of times, coming to the conclusion that it was indeed worth a try. Maybe we could find out some more about their relationship if talking to them directly, asking innocent questions and stuff.  
"Okay," I finally said, "I still don't get why we need the phone."

The whole room practically vibrated at Abby's eye-roll. "I wanna know what's going on of course! Duh!"

The three of us laughed and Lena put the phone in her pocket. We were definitely going to keep the Goth updated, but first I needed to get a check up by a doctor who usually dealt with dead people. The thought made me a bit uncomfortable, to say the least.

…

"You are completely fine, my dear, although I would recommend a good night's rest," said the medical examiner when I hopped off his table down in the morgue. At first it had been really creepy, but Dr Mallard was so nice, I quickly forgot everything about my fears and with Lena and Abby by my side I couldn't care less for the five dead bodies within merely a couple of feet in the freezers.

"Thanks, Dr Mallard," I murmured before a yawn escaped my lips. Jetlag was kicking in and I felt like I could just lie down in the middle of the room and fall asleep. Struggling to keep my eyes open I took Lena's hand and squeezed it, because she seemed to sleep while standing up. She smiled tiredly at me.

"Ducky, you're the best!" Abby exclaimed and enveloped the older man in a hug so tight, I was afraid she might break a bone.

"Make sure those two young ladies make it up to the bullpen without falling down," Dr Mallard said sternly, "They are both quite exhausted."

"No worries!" the Goth said with a grin and then grabbed first Lena's hand then mine to pull us out of the morgue and straight into the elevator. On the short ride up Abby once again made us promise to text her every little detail concerning relationship progress between Tony and Ziva, but as soon as the doors slid open she let out a deep breath and towed us after her to the desk area where Tony and Ziva where already waiting. And to our excitement they seemed to be having a very personal conversation, for they jumped approximately a meter apart when they saw us approaching.

Ziva had her poker face back on within a second and faced us with a friendly smile while Tony still struggled to look nonchalant, "What did Ducky say?"

"They're fine but they need rest," Abby answered for us and I was thankful for that, because the sleepier I got, the harder it was to think of proper sentences in English. "I need to go see McGee now, do you know where he went?" she added after checking her phone.

"McBathroom," Tony joked and even though it was pretty lame I still had to chuckle.

"Easy to entertain, as always," Lena mumbled next to me. We exchanged a smile.

"I'll just wait here," Abby announced before hugging us both, "Remember what we talked about."

Ziva took a step towards us. "Are you ready to leave? Your things are already in the car."

"Sure," Lena said and with that we followed Tony and Ziva through the NCIS building like a pair of zombies. As soon as I sat in the car and we started moving, I was asleep.

I don't remember how I got up to Ziva's apartment exactly, but somehow I found myself sitting in her living room with Lena's head on my shoulder, Tony was just heading for the door to leave.  
"Thank you, Agent DiNozzo," I said softly, not wanting to wake my friend.

"C'mon, it's Tony for you," he said with a wink. Before he pulled the door shut he and Ziva exchanged a long look and a smile. I was too tired to text Abby.

…

The next day I woke up in Ziva's guest room without Lena next to me, which was strange, because she usually needed way more sleep than me. I rolled out of bed and padded down the hallway into the living room where I found Ziva sitting on the couch with a book in her hands and Tony next to her with his feet on the coffee table, watching the news on TV. I immediately felt relieved that I had worn my sweatpants and a t-shirt to bed and not my pajamas, or this might have been a rather embarrassing situation.

"G'morning," I mumbled still a bit sleepily.

Tony chuckled. "It's about four o'clock in the afternoon."

"Seriously?" I asked, suddenly wide awake, and took a quick look at the TV. He was right. I had slept for almost eighteen hours straight, which was very unusual for me, jetlagged or not. "Jeez." I dropped down on a free chair and pulled my legs up.

"Lena is in the bathroom," Ziva said. I nodded in acknowledgement and pretended to watch the news, while I actually peeked at the pair on the couch. Every once in a while Tony's gaze wandered from the TV to Ziva and stayed there for a few seconds until she caught him once and he stopped. I could've sat like this for hours and wouldn't have got tired of it, but my stomach had other plans and growled loudly. Both agents turned to face me and I smiled apologetically.

"Sorry."

"When was the last time you ate?" Ziva asked, already getting up. I honestly didn't remember.

"It's okay, Zi, stay here," Tony said, touching her shoulder, and got up, motioning for me to follow him into the kitchen. He opened the fridge and got out some juice, milk and yoghurt. "Do you drink coffee or tea like Ziva and your friend?"

"Coffee, please," I answered. "Do all witnesses in murder investigations get this special breakfast service in the afternoon?"

Tony turned to face me with a grin, "Nope, but Gibbs seems to like you, so he pulled some strings. Ziva and I are entirely at your service. "

I chuckled and grabbed a banana from Ziva's fruit bowl while Tony went through her cupboards to gather some cereal, a bowl and a mug. He seemed to know this kitchen very well. This was definitely going to be mentioned in a text to Abby.

"There you go," Tony said, putting a mug of steaming coffee in front of me, "help yourself to cereal and whatever you want. I'll be in the living room with Ziva."  
By the time he finished his sentence I was already gulping down a glass of juice. I hadn't even noticed how thirsty I was. While I poured milk into my bowl and added a good amount of cereal, I tried to eavesdrop on the conversation in the next room, but couldn't hear anything because of the damn TV, so for a couple of minutes I just ate my breakfast and let my thoughts wander.

"Aren't they cute?" Lena's voice suddenly asked from the door. I nodded with a grin.

"How long has he been here?"

She shrugged and took a seat next to me. "Dunno. He was already here when I woke up. I tried to wake you too, by the way, but you didn't stir even once."

"We've got to text Abby. I'm sure she'd love to know that Tony's here acting all domestic, don't you think?" I put another spoon full of cereal in my mouth.

Lena's hand disappeared in her pocket for a second before she triumphantly held Abby's cell phone in my face. "What do you think I've been doing for the past hour? Abby knows about every single silent conversation or word exchange."

"You're amazing," I said and snatched the phone from her to read the texts with her standing behind me.

"Girls, could you come here for a moment?" Ziva called from the living room. I handed the phone back to Lena and went to put my bowl, glass and mug in the dishwasher before we left the kitchen together.

"What is it?" Lena asked anxiously when she saw Tony and Ziva's worried eyes, "Did something happen?"

Tony held his phone up. "Gibbs called. He talked to your parents."

Now I certainly wasn't expecting that and, to be honest, I hadn't even thought about how to tell my mum everything. Suddenly I felt like I was going to be sick.

* * *

**Yes, so we're halfway through this, I hope you're stil reading. More Tiva in the next chapter, I promise ;)**

**Reviews are always nice, by the way..**


	4. Honesty

**I don't think I've ever felt this bad in my entire life. This chapter took me forever to write, I just never seemed to be satisfied with it. (to be honest, I'm still not satisfied, but JESUS, this cannot wait any longer)**

**Lena, if you're lucky, I'll be finished by Christmas. Feel free to punch me tomorrow at school :P**

**My sincerest apologies to everyone who's still reading.**

**Discalimer: _Yeah, I guess I still don't own anything._**

* * *

**Chapter IV**

I'd only been awake for about three hours and I already felt like going back to sleep again. It had taken forty-five minutes to convince my mom over the phone that Lena and I were okay. Of course she wanted me to come back home with the next flight, but Ziva had explained to her that we needed to stay while the investigation was still going on, because _of all people_ Lena and I might have uncovered a drug connection to the Navy – completely by accident and without even doing a thing. Eventually my mom had given up arguing with Ziva to everyone's relief, but she'd still been more than a little concerned. And I didn't blame her, because, honestly, this was madness. A bunch of drug dealers posing as members of a student exchange program? That sounded more like one of Tony's movies than something that could actually happen.

After hanging up, Ziva dropped onto the couch next to Tony with a sigh. "Well… that was difficult."

"Sorry," I said, eyes on the floor. "My mom can be… hard to deal with."

Both agents' eyes were on me then and I looked up under the intensity of their combined stares. "Be glad to have one," Tony finally spoke, "She seems to love you a lot."  
At that moment I could have kicked myself, remembering that Abby had told us about Tony losing his mother when he was little and Ziva's mother being killed in Israel.

"God, I'm so sorry, I didn't think I-"

Lena's hand on my shoulder stopped me from saying anything more. "I think it would be good if you shut up."

"Right. Sorry."

"And stop apologizing. You sound like _me_, for crying out loud!"

We both had to chuckle then, causing Tony and Ziva to smile as well. Suddenly Tony spoke up again, "How come you two are so calm? Aren't you scared at all?"

I considered that for a moment, but Lena answered before I could even open my mouth. "Of course we're scared. But I guess we trust you to.. y'know… protect us."

"You are some _Very_ Special Agents after all, right?" I teased with a look in Tony's direction. He smirked back at me and I saw Ziva look away to suppress a grin. Once again I stared a moment too long, thinking about what a great couple they'd make, before the ringing of a phone cut through the silence in the room.

"DiNozzo?" Tony answered, getting up. "Yeah? Okay, we'll be right over." He hung up and looked at Ziva, who was already standing as well. "Boss wants us at the office, looks like McGee found something." With that he headed for the door and was promptly stopped by Ziva calling his name.

"What do we do with them? They cannot stay here unattended." She crossed the room with a few quick steps.

Tony hesitated for a moment. "Uh… How about one of us stays here?"

"Are you volunteering, Tony?" Ziva purred, taking another step closer, her hand sliding beneath his jacket. I felt my jaw drop at that and heard Lena's silent gasp from next to me. Tony seemed just as surprised as me and my friend because his mouth opened and closed a couple of times without him saying a word, his eyes darting to her lips twice. When she took a step back again she was triumphantly holding up his car keys. "I'll keep you posted on the case," she said patting his cheek with affection before waving to Lena and me – still standing at the other side of the room wearing dumbfounded expressions – and leaving the apartment. Once the door shut behind her, Tony still stood frozen for several seconds before looking at us.

"Did you guys just _see_ that?"

Lena smirked shamelessly at the agent. "Oh, we saw that, alright."

"Ziva's an evil genius," he murmured while slowly walking back to the couch.

"So… Tony" I started, slowly pacing in front of Ziva's bookshelf "And you're telling me again that you do not feel the least bit attracted to that woman?"

He cleared his throat, but his expression stayed calm. "Did Abby tell you to ask me this?"

Lena was quick to answer in an innocent tone, "No, of course not. But the evidence points against you."

"Exactly," I continued, "For one; you might not notice it, but you keep glancing at her."

He was going to argue, but Lena was faster, "Second," she held up two fingers, "You seem pretty comfortable in her apartment."

"That doesn't count, " Tony chuckled, but it sounded nervous, "I've known her for years."

"Do you know where to find all the dishes and groceries in McGee's apartment? You've known him longer than Ziva," I questioned, biting my tongue to keep from grinning.

"Of course I do."

"Really?" Lena asked. We were now both circling him like two sharks. He dropped onto the couch in defeat.

"No."

Lena and I high-fived before sitting down as well. Now that we had him weakened, I was sure it would be easier to get him to confess something.  
"I will ask you again now," Lena said in a low voice, "Do you or do you not have feelings for Ziva?"

Tony shot us a sideways glance, but kept staring at the turned-off TV. "I… I don't know," he admitted and it took all my willpower not to squeal. He was going to talk. He turned to look at us, "Are you happy now?"

"Not quite," I said, frowning at him. "How can you not _know_?"

"Would you two stop asking me questions?" he seemed upset, "Ziva and I are friends, okay? Would I take a bullet for her? Yes, I would. Without thinking about it but I'd do the same for McGee or Gibbs."

"I'm sorry," Lena said gently. "But… the two of you just seem so… couply."

"If I had a dollar for every time anyone said that to me… wait, what are you doing?" he stared at the cell phone in my hand. My fingers froze mid-text and I saw Lena sigh next to me. It looked like Abby wasn't going to ever receive that message. Tony snatched the phone from my hand and scrolled through the conversation. I got up and quickly walked out of his reach.

"I can explain that," I whispered.

To my surprise – and utter relief – Tony stared to laugh. "Okay… looks like Ziva's not the only evil genius." He looked at us, "You're interpreting far too much into every single one of our actions."

When he handed me the phone back, I read what he had sent Abby.

"_Your little spies got busted. –Tony."_

The reply came almost instantly.

"_Totally worth it. xx_"

I grinned to myself and put the phone in my pocket, where it would stay until I'd give it back to Abby. The three of us were silent for a long time before Lena shifted in her seat and cleared her throat. Tony and I looked at her, waiting for her to speak. "I think you should ask her out," she finally said.

I nodded immediately and with great enthusiasm, but Tony merely chuckled in disbelief. "Don't you ever give up?"

"Nope," we said at the same time. He took a deep breath before he spoke again.

"Look, I know what it must look like to you. You're what, fifteen? This must be like a TV show for you, where two co-workers seem to have feelings for one another for years without realizing those feelings are mutual and in the end they live happily ever after, blah, blah, blah. Well, I hate to inform you that this is the real life."

"Says the one person in this room who has spent more time quoting movies than brushing his teeth?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

He was silent for a long time after that and I wasn't sure what to make of it. Maybe he was thinking of a good reply, maybe he was a little mad or maybe he was actually considering asking Ziva out. I really hoped his thoughts headed into the direction of the third option.

"Look," Lena started again when the silence just got really frustrating, "We're not dumb and I know that you're very much capable of making your own choices but I think in this case you're just too close to this whole situation to see it clearly. Maybe if you take a step back you'll see what everyone else sees." Tony didn't seem to get it.

"Everybody thinks you're dating already, so you might as well do it for real," I told him, giving him the most serious expression I could manage. "I mean would you rather… regret not asking her out for the rest of your life?"

"You know what? I'm not doing this." He got up from his spot on the couch and left the apartment without even one last look into our direction. I knew we'd gone too far.

**…**

I don't know how much time passed, but neither of us talked for a while. It was awkward and I really felt bad for the whole situation and so did Lena, apparently. We had screwed up big time and we knew it. Who were we to tell a grown man, not only a grown man but a grown man who was a freaking federal agent we'd only met the day before, to ask his co-worker out. We were terrible, terrible people. When the door to the apartment opened, neither one us dared to look up.

"Girls?" someone called out, "Are you there?"

"Living room," Lena called back.

Agent McGee entered a minute later and gave us a worried look. "Tony told me he needed some air and sent me to keep an eye on you… What happened?"

"Tony hates us," I groaned and hung my head.

"And why would he hate you?" McGee's voice was amused.

Lena let out a deep breath. "We told him to ask Ziva out."

McGee's jaw dropped as soon as the words left my friends mouth. "You… you told him..?"

"Yeah," I mumbled guiltily. The agent stared at us in disbelief, not really knowing what to say after that. "Would you please say something? Yell at us, tell us we're idiots, I don't know… just talk!"

And then McGee started to laugh. He laughed so hard, his head turned bright red and tears started to form in his eyes. It was contagious and soon Lena and I couldn't help but giggle as well.  
"Hey, someone had to tell him the truth, right?" McGee said breathlessly after laughing for what felt like ten minutes straight. "He stopped listening to Abby or me a long time ago, he's probably just annoyed that the thing between him and Ziva is still that obvious."

Lena smiled at the young Agent. "So.. you don't think he hates us."

McGee shook his head. "No. He likes you too much. Besides, now he has a reason to pull one of his feared DiNozzo pranks on you."

"Like gluing your fingers to your keyboard?" Lena asked innocently. Of course Abby had told us that story. McGee just rolled his eyes with a half-smile.

"You wouldn't laugh if anything like that happened to you."

"I'm not too sure about that… I think I'd just laugh a lot."

McGee chuckled before he took a seat on the couch and got his phone out of his pocket to play Angry Birds Space. Personally, I've never been a huge fan of that whole cranky birds killing pigs scenario. But watching the geeky man next to us softly swear whenever he missed was hilarious.

**…**

It was already dark outside when the door opened and Tony and Ziva came walking in, both smiling brightly at us, with Chinese take-out in their hands. McGee, who had fallen asleep while watching the movie we'd decided to see, stopped snoring and slowly opened his eyes.

"What time's it?" he asked groggily before stretching his arms.

"Time for food!" Tony told him with a grin and disappeared into the kitchen. Lena and I realized at the same time that this was probably the best moment to apologize to him, so we followed the Senior Field Agent silently.

"Uh…" I started awkwardly, leaning against the counter. Tony didn't look at us, but I could see from where I was standing that he was suppressing a grin. "I guess we… shouldn't have said the things we, well… said."

"Great start," Lena hissed sarcastically and I elbowed her in the side.

Tony tortured us with his silence for a couple more minutes before he finally acknowledged our presence with a grin in our direction.  
"McGee already sent me a message telling me about your bad conscience."

"So you know that we're really, really sorry?" Lena stated, but she made it sound like a question.

With a frown on his face, Tony continued to put the delicious-smelling food on different plates. Without thinking about it we helped him, patiently waiting for a response. He didn't say a word until all the food was ready to be carried into the living room where McGee and Ziva could be heard laughing about something. Tony sighed heavily and looked first at me then at my friend.

"As much as I hate to say it… you might actually be right."

"What does that mean?" Lena asked slowly, raising an eyebrow.

"Me and Ziva… to say that I've never thought about a possible 'us' would be a lie. In fact there used to be a time when not a single day passed without me considering it." He raised a silencing hand to shut me up before continuing, "This is just _really_ complicated. I know Abby told you about Somalia and everything, but I don't think she quite gets the emotional complexity between Ziva and me. I don't even think _I_ get it."

"Do you think she would reject you if you asked her out?" Lena's voice was soft but filled with curiosity.

Tony's eyes wandered to the ceiling, where they stayed. "That's the thing. I used to think that, but lately I'm not sure anymore. I actually think she would say yes without hesitation." He laughed softly, "_Or_ she would try to strangle me with my tie."

"Don't get mad again," I said with the faintest smile, "but to me this sounds like it's worth a try. Honestly."

Neither of us had heard Ziva enter the kitchen, but suddenly she was standing next to Lena. All three of us almost jumped out of our skins when she spoke. "What is worth a try?"

"The seafood dish you brought," I said automatically, although my voice was a bit too high to sound relaxed and nonchalant. "Lena hates seafood, but Tony and I are trying to convince her to at least taste it."

Ziva's eyes narrowed and she looked at every one of us with suspicion before she seemed to decide that I was telling the truth. Or she at least decided to just let it go for the moment.  
"Well, McGee and I would also like some, if by any chance, you decide to share. You have been in here for quite some time now."

"Of course, sweetcheeks," Tony said sarcastically, but it still sounded affectionate. He handed her one of the plates and she disappeared, but not without sending him one last look over her shoulder, that looked very much like she was going to interrogate either him or us about what we had actually been talking about.

Once we were sure Ziva was out of hearing range, the three of us all sighed with relief. "Well… that was close," I said.

"_Seafood_? Are you _kidding_ me? There is no way she bought that one." Lena crossed her arms over her chest and bit her lip.

"Let's worry about that later," Tony said with a smile, handing me and Lena stuff to carry with us to the living room, "I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

Now that he said it, I felt my stomach growl. I could definitely use some food as well, but before we left the kitchen, I still decided to say one last thing.

"Tony?" he turned to look at me, "I think you're really going to regret it if you never ask her. Just sayin'." With that I walked past him and left the room.

**…**

McGee had already left some time ago when Lena and I finally decided to retire to the guest room and call it a night. We were lying next to each other with the bedside lamp turned on and stared at the ceiling.

"Do you think he'll ask her out?" I asked, speaking in German, just to be sure.

"I sure hope so," my friend answered absentmindedly. "I bet they'd both be happier."

"Yeah, definitely." I yawned, "And can you imagine Abby's reaction?"

"She would freak out."

"Absolutely."

We both chuckled and fell silent, sleep slowly but surely overcoming us. I don't know if it was a dream or wishful thinking, but I'm pretty sure the last thing I heard was Tony's voice.

"Zi, I think we need to talk…"

* * *

**I'm honestly trying to wrap this up. One chapter to go. :)**


	5. Goodbyes

**Please, before you attempt to brutally murder me, just hear me out... You see, there was this, uh, _dog_ and it ate my whole plot-line... actually I don't even have an excuse for not updating. All I can say is that I am really sorry. **

**It's just that I've been kind of cheating on NCIS lately - _please, no Gibbs-slaps!_ -and now I'm focusing on a big Sweeney Todd project, so if I don't post anything new in the NCIS category for a while, that's the reason. **

**I promise to return, though. There will always be new Tiva stories to tell. :)**

**Now enjoy the last chapter of this story, if you're still reading. (If not then I'm kinda talking to myself right now, which is creepy.)**

**Disclaimer: _Nope, I checked again. Don't own NCIS. _:(**

* * *

**Chapter V**

I woke up to the sudden ringing of a phone and very slowly opened my eyes. It was pretty light outside, from what I could see through the closed blinds, so that probably meant Ziva let us sleep in again. I yawned and stretched my arms before nudging Lena next to me awake. It took her less time than usual to actually respond with a mumbled "Good morning". The two of us got up, trying to be quiet as we realized that it wasn't that late, only a couple of minutes past 7 am.

I lead the way through the quiet apartment, heading for the kitchen. We could both use a bowl of Cheerios. To get to our destination we had to cross the living room and I stopped abruptly when I noticed something odd, causing Lena to walk straight into me.

"Why'd you stop?" she whispered. I nodded my head towards the couch, directing her attention to the neatly folded blanket lying atop of it. Had Tony stayed over? I guessed not, because I didn't take him to be the kind of guy who actually cleaned up after him before leaving. And why on earth would he have left before 7 in the morning anyway? I just shrugged it off and we continued our journey to our friend the refrigerator.

While we were both eating happily from our bowls I thought about what I thought I heard the night before. Maybe the two agents had actually talked into the early hours of the morning and she had offered him to sleep on her couch, giving him a blanket and all, but he had refused.

"I can practically hear you making up nonsense," Lena said before shoving another spoon of Cheerios into her mouth. I had to chuckle. She just knew me too well.

"Sorry, that… blanket… I don't know what to think of it."

She rolled her eyes, "Oh my God, you're seriously obsessing over a blanket? That's crazy, even for you."

I sighed, pushing my finished bowl away from me. "What if they-"

"It's a blanket, end of story!" she ended the discussion, hopping from her chair and putting her bowl into the dishwasher. I got up to do the same when she turned to face me with a frown. "Hey, uh, do you think Ziva's awake yet?"

I shrugged, "Dunno. Why?"

"I was wondering… I mean it's silly, really, but… do you think I could call my mom?"

I got were she was coming from. Yesterday had all been about me and my mom and I only realized then how self-centered my actions of the previous day had been. Of course NCIS had contacted her parents as well, but she never got a chance to talk to them. "Only one way to find out," I said with a wink, grabbing her hand and pulling her with me.

At Ziva's bedroom door I hesitated for a moment before knocking softly and turning the door handle. Inside the blinds were still closed, which was a bit surprising as Ziva had told us about her daily routine of an early morning run. "Ziva?" I whispered into the darkness. Something moved under the blankets, so I knew she was there. "Hey, Ziva, I'm so sorry to wake you but-"

I almost let out a scream when the figure on the bed sat up and my eyes, already used to the semi-dark room, recognized who was sleepily staring back at me. Lena must have seen it the same second as me, because before I could react in any way she pushed me aside to get a better look, "_TONY_?!"

So I wasn't having hallucinations. Tony was actually sitting there on Ziva's bed, pillows strewn around him and hair standing in all directions. "Please tell me you got clothes on…" I joked, covering my eyes with my arm.

"As if you would mind if he didn't," Lena whispered only for me to hear, causing me to snort once, trying not to laugh hysterically.

"Girls… I know this looks like it doesn't really need an explanation. But nothing happened," Tony started to explain as he got up – wearing a T-shirt and shorts, I might add. He opened the blinds and made the bed – guess I was wrong about that assumption too – before motioning us to sit on the couch in the living room. He positioned himself across the room, leaning against Ziva's bookcase.

"So, how'd you end up in Ziva's bed?" I blurted out, crossing my arms.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Fell asleep."

"No shit, Sherlock," Lena mumbled under her breath, before raising her eyebrows inquisitively at the NCIS Agent. "You know we're gonna annoy you until you tell us, right? So you might as well cut to the chase and spill the beans."  
I suppressed a giggle at my friend's over-usage of expressions, but mimicked the raised eyebrow.

"Fine. Jesus, you guys really are a pain in the-"

"A pain in the _what_, Mr. Very Special Agent DiNozzo?" I interrupted with a smirk.

He shook his head, "Never mind… "

I let myself sink back further into the cushions and crossed my legs, still waiting for him to explain, although my patience was already starting to wear off and if I hadn't been so damn curious I'm sure I would've just left. But I _was_ curious and so I kept staring at the man across the room. Just as he was about to speak, the doorbell rang and he darted out to open up.

Lena turned to look at me with nothing but frustration in her eyes.  
"_Literally_ saved by the bell."

…

It was about noon when we stormed through the door to Abby's lab. Tony and Ziva had gotten a call that they'd matched a pair of prints from the recording device to a junkie known to the local Police Department and were now tracking him down. Meanwhile us girls should go down and stay with our new Goth friend. Lena even remembered to get her some _Caf-Pow_.

"What d'ya got, Abs?" I asked in the best impression of Agent Gibbs I could manage. Abby turned around to face us with a frown.

"I'm sorry, but that was… pathetic. First of all, you're voice is too ringy, Gibbs has this ruff, manly voice… kinda sexy at times, no one can fake it. Also he has this… Gibbs-_ish_ eyebrow thing going on when he wants to get an update on a case, so you still need to work on that as well and… Oh, on top of all you should-"

"Abby… _breathe_," Lena cut the forensic specialist off. "She was making a joke."

The black-haired woman's lips curled into a smile. "Right. Joke. Sorry, I'm a bit deprived of sleep."

"That's why we brought you _this_," I chirped, holding up the energy drink. The Goth's smile grew bigger as she snatched the beverage from my fingers and took a long sip, closing her eyes to savor the taste. When she looked at us again she seemed like a different person.

"You guys. Are the best." She said and darted forward to hug both of us in typical Abby fashion. When she stepped away her eyes glistened wickedly. "And now it's time for a Tiva-update…"

Lena and I took turns in narrating what had happened after Tony had discovered the phone and Abby listened mutely, only frowning once in a while. When Lena came to the part where we'd found Tony in his partner's bed the Goth squealed with delight.  
"Oh. My. God."

"Yup, that pretty much sums it up," I said a bit breathlessly. It still bothered me a lot that Ziva had decided to end her run precisely at the moment that Tony had been willing to break his silence.

"I think," Abby started slowly, "that it would be good to just ignore them for a while. And not _ignore_ like in '_I can't see or hear you'_ but more as in '_hey, you two got a thing going on but I really don't care._'"

"I understand," Lena mumbled thoughtfully.

"_I_ don't," I said stubbornly. "We're _so_ close, why give up now?"

"We're not giving up. We're… giving them some space. It's not like locking them on a balcony together and forcing them to talk about things is an option."  
I rolled my eyes at Lena's sarcasm, but she had a point. We'd tried to forcefully shove Tony into the right direction and we had obviously failed miserably. So maybe working on a more subtle level would do the trick.

"Fine, I get it. No more pushing," I mumbled in defeat, earning myself an approving nod from Abby and an appreciative pat on the shoulder from Lena. I smiled halfheartedly at them both and then started pacing the lab, my eyes wandering over the different monitors. When I noticed something beeping I stopped, turning to Abby. "Uh… "

"What?" the Goth asked, then followed my gaze and darted across the room until she was standing by my side. "Whoa, we got another match!" She exclaimed and immediately started to type in some sort of code on her keyboard, pulling up the image of a woman.

"Haven't we seen her before?" Lena asked as she narrowed her eyes at the mug-shot. I took a closer look myself and frowned. She certainly looked familiar. Maybe with blond curls instead of brown ones and a bit of make-up…

"_Oh my God, it's airport-woman!"_ I shrieked, taking a step back.

"What, is that some sort of Austrian superhero? '_Airport Woman_, to the rescue'?" Abby asked evidently confused.

"_No_," I said, somewhere between shock and amusement, "It's the woman who gave us the voice recorder with the drugs! She looks different now, though."

"I'll better call Gibbs…" Abby said and went to fetch her phone from her desk in the next room. Meanwhile Lena and I stared at the computer screen, not really believing what we saw. It took less than ten minutes until the whole team was gathered around us.

"What did you find?" Gibbs asked straight away.

"Lisa Baumgartner, 41 years old, served a couple of years in German prison for fraud, identity theft and driving without a license. Got out about a year ago for good leadership. Apparently she's one hell of an actress… oh, and she _really_ needs a haircut on this picture," Abby recited the information she'd gathered on the woman that had started our whole adventure.

"Can you track her location?"

"Her phone is currently turned off, but the last signal came from a motel… And now guess who was calling her." Abby smirked.

"Not here to play 'Guess Who', Abs," Gibbs answered.

The forensic specialist rolled her eyes. "Cole Jenkins.°

McGee's eyes widened, "The junkie?"  
Abby nodded and typed away on her keyboard again, pulling up another image. I realized I knew that guy as well.

"He was wearing a hoodie and sunglasses at the airport," I said, my voice no more than a whisper. Reality hit me once again with full force and I suddenly felt nauseous. "I need to sit down," was all I got out before my legs gave in and I dropped to the floor.

"Miri! Are you alright?!" Lena exclaimed worriedly as she sank down next to me.

"I'll get her something to drink…" Ziva called over her shoulder while already starting for the door. I tried to get up.

"No, it's okay. I'm okay. Just a little overreaction…" I assured everyone, forcing a smile. Ziva didn't buy it. Neither did Tony or McGee, but there was no objection when I asked to get the drink myself with Lena to accompany me.

When we got back the lab was empty except for Abby who was hugging Bert to her chest, looking at us like a lost puppy. "The others went to catch the bad guys. It's all over."  
Somehow those words were supposed to be cheerful, considering they had closed another case successfully, but the Goth's expression was grim.

Lena crossed her arms. "That is a good thing, right?"

Abby nodded. "Super good."

"Then why is it you look like someone just told you the world is all out of _Caf-Pow_?" I asked.

"_Because_, now you can go home and everything will go back to normal and… I'm going to miss you guys. It was so much fun having you around."

"Aw, we'll miss you too, Abby!" I said, before turning to Lena and hugging her enthusiastically, "We're going home!"

"We're going home!" she echoed and we just stood there and grinned from ear to ear.

…

"You sure you got everything?"

"For Christ's sake, yes, Tony, I am sure. Just as I was the last fifteen times you asked." I rolled my eyes and smiled at the agent just as Lena emerged from the bathroom.

"Hey, you almost left your toothbrush here…" she said, holding the pink item up. I closed my eyes briefly, practically feeling Tony's smirk, even though he was now standing across the room. When I turned around he was looking at me triumphantly.

"Well, now I got everything," I murmured as I walked past him to my suitcase.

"Hey, I didn't say anything," he said, his voice amused, as he grabbed Lena's backpack and slung it over his shoulder. "Ready?"

I closed my suitcase again and straightened myself up. Lena was already at the door. "Ready," we chimed in unison.

Ziva was already waiting in the car. She smiled warmly at us, although it seemed like she was particularly focusing on her partner. As discussed neither Lena nor I had approached the dating subject again with either of the two agents in the two days that had passed since Lisa Baumgartner, her accomplice Cole Jenkins and a whole bunch of others involved, including two Marines were arrested. We had only talked about it in hushed German the previous night, because neither of us could sleep, coming to the conclusion that Tiva was inevitable, but would possibly need a little more time to become reality.

At the airport everything went pretty smoothly. We got through security in record time (no wonder, considering we were accompanied by four NCIS Agents) and our plane arrived shortly after that. It was time to say goodbye.

"So… " I started but was cut off as Abby threw herself at me.

"I'll see you guys on _Skype_, right?" she asked, her voice muffled by the fabric of my sweater. She pulled back and smiled at me when I nodded before hugging Lena in a similar fashion. I walked over to McGee and nudged his shoulder with my fist playfully.

"It was good to meet you, McGee. Don't forget to send me a signed copy of _Deep Six_," I winked at him and he laughed.

"No worries, I happen to know the author."

Lena joined me as I went to thank Agent Gibbs. Of course now she was faster to speak.  
"Thank you so much for all your help; I don't know what we would have done without you."

"That's okay, kiddo," the gruff man smiled and patted her on the shoulder, making her blush. I shook his hand, thanking him as well before turning to Tony and Ziva.

"You two have been amazing. Thank you." I enveloped Ziva in a shy hug, knowing she wasn't that much of a hugger like her pig-tailed co-worker. The Israeli responded warmly and leaned down to whisper something in my ear.

"You are right, it still will take time. But we are working on it." What surprised me even more than the words itself was that they were spoken in German. I blushed furiously as I realized that Ziva had probably heard and _understood_ most of the conversation between me and Lena. I pulled back from the hug, wanting to apologize, but Ziva just shook her head and smiled. After Lena had said her goodbyes to Ziva as well, we turned to Tony.

I extended a hand for him to shake, but he just laughed and pulled Lena and me into a bear hug. "You two are the most annoying people I know. And I work with McGoofball over there," he said.

"Thanks. For everything," Lena mumbled.

"No, I gotta thank you." The whispered statement surprised me, but he continued to explain anyway. "Ziva and I are having dinner tonight. I think you could call it a date."

Lena and I did everything not to start jumping up and down like crazy people, but I couldn't hold in a little squeal of pure happiness. So that's what Ziva had meant with '_we are working on it_'. Tony let go of us then, telling us that our plane back home was ready to be boarded. We said goodbye to every team member once again before starting to slowly walk towards the group of people gathering to board the same flight to Frankfurt International Airport as us. I took Lena's hand and squeezed it while she sent me a bright grin in response.

When we looked back we saw McGee waving at us with Abby's arm looped through his, Gibbs next to them with a Styrofoam cup of coffee in his hand and Tony with his arm nonchalantly around Ziva's waist.

"Finally," I whispered and followed my friend to our seats.

* * *

**Hey I just met you, and this is crazy, but you finished reading this story, so review maybe?**


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